HALF-CENTURY  DISCOURSE, 


KUFUS  ANDERSON, 

ONE  OP  THE  SECRETARIES  OF  THE  AMERICAN  BOARD  OF  COMMISSIONERS  FOR 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 


PRESS  OP  T. 


BOSTON : 

R.  MARVIN,  42  CONGRESS  ST. 
18  5  1. 


I 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/proceedingsofameOOande 


SERMON. 


GALATIANS  it.  4. 
WHEN  THE  FULLNESS  OF  THE  TIME  WAS  COME,   GOD  SENT  FORTH  HIS  SON. 

The  time  here  mentioned  was  that  appointed 
for  Messiah's  advent.  When  the  preliminaries  and 
preparations  were  all  completed,  and  every  thing 
was  readv  in  the  world  and  the  Jewish  church,  and 
all  indicated  the  period  for  the  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah, then  he  came  and  made  the  long  promised 
atonement  for  the  sins  of  mankind. 

This  was  the  most  important  of  three  grand  pro- 
phetic epochs.  The  liberation  of  the  enslaved 
church  from  Egypt  was  one.  The  return  of  the 
captive  church  from  Babylon  was  another.  But 
the  coming  of  the  Messiah  formed  an  epoch  of  far 
greater  interest.  All  the  ceremonial  institutions, 
types  and  shadows  looked  to  his  advent  and  death, 
and  there  found  their  meaning  and  termination, 
and  so  did  the  whole  Levitical  priesthood.  The  old 
dispensation  of  the  law  ended,  and  the  new  dispen- 
sation of  the  gospel  commenced.  And  it  was  this 
grand  epoch,  this  '  fullness  of  the  time,'  that 
prophets  and  kings  so  earnestly  desired  to  see. 

But  there  is  another  predicted  epoch,  another 
'  fullness  of  the  time,'  yet  to  come,  of  the  highest 


4 


possible  interest,  when  the  Spirit  shall  be  poured 
out  upon  all  flesh,  with  a  universal,  overpower- 
ing influence,  and  "  the  kingdoms  of  this  world  " 
shall  become  "  the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ,  and  he  shall  reign  forever  and  ever."  To 
this  fourth  grand  epoch  the  Christian  church  is  now 
looking  forward  with  the  same  earnest  desire  and 
expectation,  that  the  ancient  church  did  to  the 
coming  of  the  Messiah.  As  there  was  a  "fullness 
of  the  time  "  for  the  one,  so  is  there  for  the  other ; 
and  the  latter  has  its  preliminaries,  preparations, 
and  appropriate  signs,  equally  with  the  former. 
The  probable  ends,  moreover,  to  be  answered  by  a 
delay  during  so  many  centuries,  would  be  found  re- 
markably alike  in  both  cases  ;  and  we  should  come 
to  the  conclusion  that  if  there  were  signs  to  justify 
that  general  expectation  of  the  Messiah,  which 
seems  to  have  pervaded  the  civilized  world  just  be- 
fore his  advent,  then  the  Christian  world  is  now 
justified  in  expecting  the  universal  extension  of  the 
gospel  as  an  event  near  at  hand. 

Instead,  however,  of  tracing  this  analogy  through 
eighteen  hundred  years,  (which  would  require  a 
volume,)  I  shall  confine  myself  to  the  half-century 
just  completed,  as  a  topic  befitting  the  occasion 
when  we  stand  midway  between  the  beginning  of 
the  century  and  its  close. 

At  the  opening  of  the  present  century,  our  nation 
was  mourning  the  death  of  Washington,  and  Europe 
was  entering  that  terrible  tempest  of  fire  and  blood, 
in  which  the  genius  of  Napoleon  was  so  conspicu- 
ous. The  spirit  of  infidelity  was  every  where 
abroad  creating  alarm  ;  and  little  did  good  men, 


o 

even  of  the  strongest  faith,  imagine  what  was  really 
to  be  the  grand  characteristic  of  the  century. 

But  it  often  happens,  that  the  stirring  up  and 
agitation  of  men's  minds  by  such  causes,  though 
fearful  at  the  time,  is  the  providential  preparation 
for  spiritual  reformation,  intellectual  progress,  and 
great  social  improvement.  It  was  so  in  the  early 
part  of  the  present  century.  An  impulse  was  then 
given  to  the  human  mind,  that  has  been  greatly  felt 
in  all  the  departments  of  science  and  art,  in  all  the 
forms  and  conditions  of  social  life,  and  perhaps  most 
of  all  in  the  Christian  church.  Is  it  not  remarkable 
what  an  influence  this  has  had  in  stimulating  and 
organizing  the  churches  for  religious  effort  ?  At 
all  events  it  is  certain,  that  a  great  change  has 
come  over  the  spirit  and  habits  of  God's  people  as 
a  body.  Practical  piety  is  now  a  very  different 
thing  from  what  it  once  was, — more  comprehensive 
in  its  views  and  feelings,  more  active,  more  benevo- 
lent and  aggressive,  more  alive  to  its  individual  and 
social  n  sponsibilities,  and  a  thousand  times  more 
influential,  in  the  aggregate,  than  it  was  fifty  years 
ago.  Somehow,  the  denominational  and  social  con- 
science can  no  longer  sleep  amid  the  groans  of  a 
perishing  world.  Somehow,  the  churches  have 
been  led  into  extensive  systematic  organizations  for 
propagating  the  gospel  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
these  are  gaining  strength  and  momentum  in  every 
free  Protestant  community  ;  and  somehow,  mission- 
ary institutions  have  been  planted  over  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  heathen  world,  with  the  declared  purpose 
of  t;iking  possession  of  the  whole  for  Christ. 

Such  facts  as  these  may  well  awaken  our  curios- 


6 


it y  to  look  more  deeply  into  the  matter,  and  to  learn 
more  of  the  position,  in  which  we  as  Christians  and 
the  churches  of  our  day  are  placed  by  God's  provi- 
dence and  grace  ;  and  it  shall  be  my  object  to  illus- 
trate this  point,  and  to  bring  it  out  distinctly  to 
view. 

I.  It  icas  not  until  the  present  century,  that  the 
ivay  ivas  actually  opened,  by  God's  providence,  for 
Christians  to  reach  and  evangelize  all  nations. 

This  truth,  if  it  be  one,  has  of  course  a  momen- 
tous bearing  on  the  responsibilities  of  the  present 
generation.  Christ's  command  to  "  go  into  all  the 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature," 
does  not  prove  that  his  immediate  disciples,  or  the 
whole  body  of  Christ  ians  in  their  day,  were  a  hie 
themselves  actually  to  publish  the  gospel  to  all  man- 
kind. In  fact  they  did  not.  They  did  what  the\ 
could.  The\  are  not  open  to  reproach.  They 
were  faithful.  Theirs  was  pre-eminently  an  enter- 
prising, missionary  age.  It  may  well  be  presumed, 
that  they  proclaimed  the  gospel  as  far  as  they  could. 
Though  their  number  was  so  small,  they  preached 
it  through  a  considerable  portion  of  the  then  civil- 
ized world.  But  it  is  almost  certain  that  they  went 
scarcely  beyond.  Our  Lord  intended  his  injunction 
not  merely  for  them,  nor  merely  for  their  age,  but 
for  the  whole  church,  in  all  ages,  till  the  gospel 
should  be  literally  preached  to  every  creature,  na\, 
till  the  end  of  the  world;  for  in  the  millennium  the 
gospel  will  need  to  be  preached  every  where,  as 
really  as  now.  It  will  then  be,  as  it  is  now,  the 
duty  of  the  Christian  church  to  see  that  it  is  so 


7 


preached ;  and  this  injunction  of  our  Lord  presents, 
and  was  intended  to  present,  the  great  standing 
work  of  the  Christian  church  for  all  ages  of  the 
world. 

As  the  apostolic  missions  were  nearly  all  within 
the  limits  of  the  civilized  world,  so  were  they 
doubtless  restrained  by  the  most  formidable  obsta- 
cles frorri  going  farther.  We  have  certain  knowl- 
edge, indeed,  that  at  that  time  the  Romans  had 
almost  no  acquaintance  with  countries  beyond  their 
own  empire.  India  was  to  them  the  farthest  east, 
and  the  British  Isles  the  farthest  west.  The  im- 
mense regions  of  northern  and  eastern  Asia  had 
scarcely  more  existence  in  their  minds,  than  the 
continents  and  islands  of  this  western  hemisphere. 
This  ignorance,  and  much  more  the  nature  of  its 
causes,  made  it  impossible,  as  the  primitive  churches 
were  situated,  and  as  society  and  navigation  then 
were,  for  the  Apostles  and  their  associates  to  pub- 
lish the  gospel  throughout  the  world. 

This  profound  ignorance  of  the  existence  and 
condition  of  distant  nations  continued  for  many  cen- 
turies, and  was  to  a  great  extent  invincible.  And 
so  far  as  it  was  invincible,  it  was  an  insuperable 
obstacle  to  the  universal  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
If  not  so,  how  came  commerce,  the  insatiable  greed- 
iness of  commerce,  to  be  restricted,  all  the  while, 
within  precisely  the  same  limits  ?  How  came  the 
reckless,  indomitable  avarice  of  the  world  not  to 
break  forth  over  all  the  earth,  as  it  has  done  in  our 
age  even  in  advance  of  the  gospel  ?  It  did  not,  only 
because  it  could  not.  Its  progress  was  barred,  in 
respect  to  the  greater  portion  of  the  world,  as  it 


8 


now  is  in  respect  to  the  kingdom  of  Japan  ;  only  the 
obstacles  were  far  more  numerous  and  insuperable. 

It  was,  indeed,  most  obviously  the  divine  will, — 
for  all-wise  reasons  not  fully  revealed  to  us, — that 
the  nations  of  the  world  should  long  remain  in  great 
measure  isolated  in  respect  to  each  other  ;  and  that 
the  visible  Christian  church  should  pass,  meanwhile, 
through  a  period  of  trial,  and  through  a  series  of 
great  errors,  apostacies  and  reformations,  before  it 
spread  itself  and  the  religion  it  professed  over  all 
the  earth.  These  were  probably  needful  to  the  full 
working  out  of  the  great  plan  of  redemption,  and 
to  the  full  preparation  of  the  church  for  this  great 
work. 

I  by  no  means  intend  to  affirm,  that  the  true 
church  of  Christ  has  not,  in  every  age  since  the 
Apostles,  been  culpable  for  not  having  done  more 
than  it  actually  did  for  extending  the  gospel.  I 
speak,  however,  of  the  true  spiritual  church,  and 
not  of  the  merely  nominal  church,  which  early  began 
to  apostatize  from  the  spirit  and  truth  of  the  gospel, 
and  the  more  as  it  rose  in  power  and  influence. 
And  the  question  I  raise  concerning  the  true  church, 
is  not  whether  it  could  have  done  more  in  the  way 
of  missions  than  it  did,  but  whether  it  could  have 
diffused  the  gospel,  in  past  ages,  through  the  entire 
world. 

There  is  the  strongest  historical  proof,  that  the 
ignorance  of  the  true  Christian  church  in  past  ages, 
with  respect  to  the  great  portion  of  the  heathen 
world,  admitted  of  but  a  partial  removal.  For 
many  ages,  the  whole  frontier  of  pagan  Africa  and 
Asia  was  occupied  by  Saracens  and  Turks,  then 


9 


forming  together  the  most  powerful  of  all  the  na- 
tions, in  armed  and  fierce  defiance  of  Christian 
Europe.  Goths,  Huns,  Vandals,  and  Saracens  also 
disturbed  for  centuries  the  security  and  peace  of 
Christendom.  So  did  the  Crusaders.  Moreover  the 
true  church  of  Christ  necessarily  participated  in  the 
ignorance,  mental  imbecility  and  superstition  of 
Christendom  from  the  seventh  century  onward, 
which  rendered  impossible  any  such  rational,  scrip- 
tural and  extended  missions,  as  are  necessary  to 
evangelize  the  whole  heathen  world.  The  Pope 
and  his  cardinals  were  also  in  great  power,  and 
arrogated  to  themselves  all  the  functions  and  privi- 
leges of  the  church  of  God,  and  allowed  no  reli- 
gious freedom  of  mind,  speech,  or  action  ;  and  the 
few  scattered  and  feeble  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
had  more  than  they  could  do  to  stay  the  progress  of 
superstition  in  the  visible  church.  And  oft-times 
they  were  compelled  to  wander  in  deserts  and 
mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth,  and 
to  purchase  a  mere  existence  by  silence  and  obscu- 
rity. In  such  circumstances,  which  in  fact  lasted 
for  ages,  down  even  to  the  Reformation,  the  true 
church  could  do  but  little  for  the  benefit  of  remote 
countries.  Then  what  scanty  facilities  were  there 
for  traveling  !  For  twelve  centuries  after  the  Apos- 
tles, men  continued  to  regard  the  earth  as  an  ex- 
tended plain,  and  to  sail  by  the  stars  and  cling  to 
the  shores  ;  and  not  till  long  after  that,  did  the  mar- 
iner boldly  venture  across  the  ocean.  Mind  too  had 
no  such  Blighty  instruments  to  work,  with  as  now, 
for  exertin"  influence  on  mind  near  or  remote.  The 
invention  of  the  printing  press  preceded  but  a  few 
2 


10 


years  the  discovery  of  America ;  and  the  use  of 
machinery  in  working  the  press,  or  that  wonderful 
machine  called  the  power-press,  which  can  print 
fifteen  hundred  or  two  thousand  copies  of  the  New 
Testament  in  a  day,  is  a  device  of  our  own  age.  I 
need  not  add,  that  associations  on  a  large  scale  for 
propagating  the  gospel,  except  in  the  form  of  monk- 
ish institutions,  are  all  of  recent  date, — the  result 
of  that  intelligence  and  large  inter-community  of 
thought  and  feeling  and  freedom  of  action,  which 
belong  to  the  age  of  printing,  and  distinguish  the 
Protestant  world  of  modern  times.  So  far  as  the 
apostolical  and  later  ancient  churches  were  able  to 
act  together  for  the  propagating  of  the  gospel,  it 
was  by  platoons  and  companies,  while  the  evangel- 
ical churches  of  our  day  act  by  divisions  and  armies, 
with  the  momentum  of  great  masses. 

I  think  my  brethren  will  by  this  time  agree 
with  me  in  the  opinion,  that  not  until  the  present 
generation  did  God's  providence  so  open  the  way 
as  to  enable  his  people  to  reach  and  evangelize  all 
nations. 

But  nothing  is  more  certain,  than  that  now  almost 
every  heathen  nation  is  entirely  accessible,  and  that 
this  amazing  result  has  been  brought  about  chiefly 
within  the  past  half-century, — in  that  silent,  scarcely 
observed  manner,  which  characterizes  the  great  op- 
erations of  God's  providential  government.  Those 
who  remember  (as  some  of  us  do)  the  embarrass- 
ments, with  which  our  own  Board  of  Foreign  Mis- 
sions commenced  its  operations,  forty  years  ago,  will 
bear  witness  that  I  do  not  exaggerate.  It  was  then 
thought  difficult  to  find  a  field  of  labor  even  for  four 


11 


or  five  missionaries.  Little  did  our  pious  fathers 
think  what  God  purposed  to  do  for  this  Avork,  even 
before  some  of  them  should  have  gone  to  their  ever- 
lasting; rest.  Little  did  they  imagine,  for  instance, 
how  soon  the  world  would  be  explored,  and  its  con- 
dition made  known  to  God's  people  ; — how  soon  the 
intolerant  secular  power  of  idolatry  would  be  over- 
thrown in  India  ; — how  soon  the  gates  of  China 
would  be  forced  open  ; — how  soon  Protestant  gov- 
ernments, then  all  indifferent  and  some  even  hostile 
to  missions,  would  find  it  for  their  interest,  as  they 
have,  to  act  the  part  of  protectors ; — how  soon  rail- 
roads would  bind  the  earth  together,  and  send  men 
over  it  by  day  and  night  with  the  swiftness  of  the 
winds  ; — how  soon  thought  would  be  darted  across 
continents  with  the  lightning's  speed  ; — and  how 
soon  the  currents  of  all  the  rivers  and  the  storms  of 
all  the  oceans  would  be  overcome  by  steam,  and 
commerce  fill  and  pervade  every  sea  ;  thus  giving  to 
the  people  of  God  a  free  and  easy  access  to  every 
land. 

These  astonishing  events  have  all  become  so  fa- 
miliar, as  scarcely  to  excite  our  wonder.  But  they 
are  all  events  of  our  own  age.  They  belong  to  the 
nineteenth  century.  For  the  first  time  since  the 
opening  of  the  Christian  dispensation,  for  the  first 
time  since  the  dispersion  at  Babel,  God  has  made  a 
large  portion  of  the  world  to  cease  from  the  strange 
isolation  of  its  several  parts,  and  to  become  known 
and  accessible  to  his  people.  With  our  rail-roads, 
our  steam-ships,  our  telegraphic  wires,  our  power- 
presses,  our  commerce  and  commercial  exchanges, 
our  sciences  and  arts,  our  geographv,  our  personal 


12 


security  ;  with  no  more  Gothic  or  Vandal  invasions 
to  drive  back  the  tide  of  civilization  ;  nor  False 
Prophet,  nor  Man  of  Sin,  as  we  may  hope,  again  to 
deceive  on  the  large  scale  of  nations  ; — who  can 
doubt,  that  the  '  fullness  of  the  time  '  for  blessing 
the  earth  with  the  gospel  has  come,  and  that  this 
great  work  forms  the  grand  mission  and  business  of 
the  churches  and  Christians  of  our  day  ? 

This  conviction  will  be  strengthened  by  the  illus- 
trations under  our  second  proposition. 

II.  It  was  not  until  the  present  century,  that  the 
evangelical  churches  of  Christendom  were  ever  real  I  if 
organized  with  a  view  to  the  conversion  of  the  world. 

What  are  called  voluntary  associations  for  religious 
purposes,  in  distinction  from  local  churches,  are  not 
indeed  a  new  thing  on  the  earth.  They  have  existed^ 
in  some  form,  from  an  early  period  of  the  Christian 
church.  It  was  probably  through  such,  that  the  gos- 
pel has  ever  been  propagated  by  the  church  beyond 
the  voices  of  its  own  immediate  pastors.  Monas- 
teries were  voluntary  societies,  and  so  were  all 
the  different  orders  of  monks.  It  was  by  means  of 
associations  such  as  these,  that  the  gospel  was  origi- 
nally propagated  among  our  ancestors,  and  over  Eu- 
rope. These  are  the  Papal  forms  of  missionary 
societies  and  missions. 

The  Protestant  form  is  what  we  see  in  Missionary, 
Bible,  Tract,  and  other  kindred  societies;  not  re- 
stricted to  ecclesiastics,  nor  to  any  one  profession, 
but  combining  all  classes,  embracing  the  masses 
the  people,  and  all  free,  open,  and  responsible. 
They  are  voluntary  associations  in  reality,  whether 


13 


their  executive  officers  be  appointed  by  associations 
of  Christians  formed  expressly  for  the  purpose,  or 
by  means  of  particular  ecclesiastical  bodies ;  for  it 
is  the  contributors  of  the  funds,  who  are  the  real 
association ;  not  the  American  Board,  not  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly's  Board,  nor  any  other,  but  the  indi- 
viduals, churches,  congregations,  who  freely  act 
together,  through  such  agencies,  for  an  object  of 
common  interest.  The  Board,  or  whatever  be  the 
executive  body,  is  an  agency,  and  stands  so  related 
to  the  donors  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  the  mission- 
aries on  the  other.  Those  who  employ  it  are  all 
alike  voluntary  in  so  doing,  in  all  the  Protestant  so- 
cieties of  benevolent  organization.  No  compulsory 
taxation,  no  taxation  whatever,  is  allowable  in  Chris- 
tian benevolence.  None  are  to  be  taxed  for  the 
spread  of  the  gospel.  All  must  needs  be  voluntary 
and  free  to  give,  and  to  determine  what  they  shall 
give  and  for  what  objects,  in  order  to  be  cheerful 
and  accepted  givers.  Our  age  is  singular  and  re- 
markable for  its  disposition  to  associate  in  action. 
It  associates  for  the  accomplishment  of  almost  every 
object;  and  this  disposition  may  Ik-  so  extended,  for 
an  object  of  great  interest,  that  the  society  shall  em- 
brace even  thousands  of  churches  belonging  to  sev- 
eral kindred  denominations.  We  see  such  wonders 
in  our  times,  in  Bible  and  Tract  societies,  and  even 
in  Missionary  societies.  The  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  is  itself  an  in- 
stance. But  whatever  the  name,  constitution,  or 
religious  object  of  the  association,  the  action  put 
forth  is  as  much  that  of  churches  as  it  can  be  on 
so  large  a  scale,  or  perhaps  as  it  ought  to  be  when 


14 


involving  the  receipt  and  disbursement  of  large  sums 
of  money. 

This  Protestant  form  of  association, — free,  open, 
responsible,  embracing  all  classes,  both  sexes,  all 
ages,  the  masses  of  the  people, — is  peculiar  to  modern 
times,  and  almost  to  our  age.  Like  our  own  form 
of  government,  working  with  perfect  freedom  over  a 
broad  continent,  it  is  among  the  great  results  of  the 
progress  of  Christian  civilization  in  this  '  fullness  of 
the  time '  for  the  world's  conversion.  Such  great  and 
extended  associations  could  not  possibly  have  been 
worked,  they  could  not  have  been  created,  or  kept  in 
existence,  without  the  present  degree  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty  and  social  security,  or  without  the 
present  extended  habits  of  reading  and  the  conse- 
quent wide-spread  intelligence  among  the  people  ; 
nor  could  they  exist  on  a  sufficiently  broad  scale  nor 
act  with  sufficient  energy  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world,  under  despotic  governments,  or  without  the 
present  amazing  facilities  for  communication  on  the 
land,  and  the  world-wide  commerce  on  the  seas. 
Never  until  now,  did  the  social  condition  of  mankind 
render  it  possible  to  organize  and  sustain  the  armies 
requisite  for  the  world's  spiritual  conquest. 

Such  new  forms  of  association  as  have  been  de- 
scribed arose  with  the  opening  of  the  unevangelizcd 
world  to  the  gospel,  and  with  the  consequent  rise  of 
the  missionary  spirit ;  and  I  believe  that  every  evan- 
gelical denomination  in  Protestant  America  and 
Europe  now  has  them.  The\  belong  almost  exclu- 
sive! \  to  this  century.  In  our  own  country  indeed, 
fifty  years  ago,  there  was  not  one  Foreign  Missionary 
society,  properly  so  called,  nor  a  Bible,  Tract,  Edu- 


15 


cation,  or  Seamen's  society  ;  and  the  Home  Mis- 
sionary societies  were  mere  local  institutions  work- 
ing on  the  smallest  scale.  But  now  our  system  of 
organization  for  propagating  the  gospel  at  home  and 
abroad,  receives  contributions  to  the  amount  of  a 
million  and  a  half  of  dollars  annually;  besides  half 
a  million  more  for  the  sale  of  Bibles  and  other  reli- 
gious books  at  cost.  In  the  evangelical  churches  of 
Greal  Britain  and  America,  the  a»»reii,ite  of  the  re- 
ceipts is  about  five  millions  of  dollars  ;  or  at  least  a 
hundred  times  more  than  was  contributed,  by  the 
same  bodies  of  Christians,  fifty  years  ago. 

III.  Till  the  present  century,  the  evangelical 
churches  of  Christendom  had  no  commanding  si/stem 
of  missions  abroad,  designed  expressly  for  the  con- 
version of  the  world. 

At  the  opening  of  the  present  century,  a  few  mis- 
sions, mostly  of  recent  origin,  might  be  seen  faintly 
twinkling  out  from  the  depths  of  pagan  darkness. 
But  the\-  were  feebly  sustained,  had  gained  no 
strong  hold  on  the  heathen  world,  and  awakened  no 
general  interest  among  the  churches.  Never  did 
any  age,  not  even  the  apostolical,  behold  such  a 
system  of  missions  as  we  are  now  permitted  to  see. 
They  are  not  indeed  universal,  for  some  portions 
of  the  world  an;  as  yet  scarcely  accessible.  But 
the  Christian  traveler  would  find  them  on  nearly  all 
the  more  important  points  along  two  thousand  miles 
of  the  African  coast ;  in  nearly  every  important 
((  litre  of  influence  in  Western  Asia;  on  the  upper 
waters  of  the  Indus;  along  the  Ganges;  around 
nearly  the  whole  sea-coast  of  India,  and  over  nearly 


16 


the  length  and  breadth  of  its  great  peninsula.  He 
would  find  them  in  Ceylon,  in  Assam,  in  Siam,  in 
the  Indian  Archipelago,  and  in  the  five  chief  ports 
of  the  Chinese  empire.  Launching  abroad  on  the 
Pacific,  he  might  venture  to  cast  anchor  in  almost 
any  of  the  groups  of  islands,  in  the  confidence  that 
missionaries  of  the  cross  are  there  to  protect  him 
from  savage  men  ;  and  already  do  Christian  missions 
afford  a  more  effectual  and  better  protection  to  the 
mariner  in  that  "  Island  World,"  than  could  be  fur- 
nished by  all  the  navies  of  Christendom.  And 
along  the  great  rivers  of  our  western  wilds,  after 
crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains,  how  often  would  the 
traveler  be  gladdened  at  evening  by  the  songs  of 
Zion,  when  fearing  he  should  hear  the  war-cry  of 
the  savage  ! 

Though  all  this  be  but  the  beginning  of  the  en- 
terprise for  the  world's  conversion,  (and  it  is  nothing 
more,)  yet  how  gnat  is  that  beginning  ! — how  wide  ! 
— in  how  many  places ! — how  extended  over  the 
earth  !  You  find  the  heralds  of  the  cross  alike  in 
the  burning  and  temperate  zones,  in  every  climate  ; 
encountering  every  form  of  barbarism,  every  lan- 
guage, every  religion;  and  laboring,  with  equal 
cheerfulness,  in  every  part  of  the  unevangclized 
world. 

Nor  are  these  missionaries  laboring  in  vain. 
Theirs,  through  God's  blessing,  is  one  of  the  most 
successful  great  enterprises  that  was  ever  under- 
taken by  man.  Look  at  the  Sandwich  Islands. 
Look  at  the  long  line  of  island-groups  in  the  South 
Pacific.  Look  at  New  Zealand.  Behold,  in  tin; 
Cherokee  and  Choctaw  nations,  the  "wild  Indian" 


17 


both  civilized  and  christianized.  Behold  in  Wes- 
tern Asia,  the  two  religious  reformations  now  in 
progress,  among  the  Armenians  and  the  Nestorians. 
Behold  in  Africa,  West  and  South,  the  many 
thousands  gathered  into  churches.  Behold  the 
increasing  number  of  Christian  villages  in  India — 
germs  of  coming  Christian  provinces,  and  of  a 
Christian  empire.  Behold  the  multitude  of  schools, 
the  seminaries,  the  native  preachers,  the  printing 
establishments.  Behold  the  hundred  and  twenty 
languages  of  the  pagan  world  lately  reduced  to 
writing,  and  beginning  to  be  enriched  with  the 
Scriptures,  and  with  school-books  and  religious 
tracts.  Behold  at  least  a  thousand  churches,  with 
two  or  three  hundred  thousand  members,  enjoying 
the  ministrations  of  some  fifteen  hundred  foreign 
missionaries  and  thousands  of  native  Christian 
helpers.  Behold,  in  Christian  lands,  thousands  of 
feeble  churches  edified  by  nearly  as  many  home  mis- 
sionaries. Behold  near  forty  millions  of  Scriptures 
issued  by  Bible  societies — a  greater  number  than 
ever  before  since  the  Law  was  given  on  Sinai  ; 
and  thousands  of  millions  of  tracts  and  religious 
bonks  issued  by  Tract  and  Sabbath-school  socie- 
ties. 

Did  time  permit,  I  might  speak  of  the  im- 
pulse that  has  thus  been  given  to  our  religious 
education,  to  our  religious  literature,  to  our  devo- 
tional and  practical  piety,  to  our  churches  and 
ecclesiastical  bodies,  and  to  all  our  evangelical 
denominations.  I  might  show  how  this  vastly 
extended  benevolent  enterprise  has  raised  the 
character  of  the  Christian  church,  and  [secured  for 
3 


18 


it  a  consideration  among  men  such  as  it  never  had 
before.  But  there  is  not  time,  and  what  has  been 
adduced  is  sufficient  for  my  purpose.  Enough  for 
me  that  the  world  is  so  far  opened,  and  that  the 
churches  are  beginning  in  earnest  to  gird  themselves 
for  the  great  spiritual  conflict  in  every  land. 

Now  how  do  you  account  for  all  this  ?  What 
does  it  mean  ?  Why.  within  the  memory  of  many 
now  living*  has  the  world  been  thus  strangely 
opened  and  made  accessible,  as  by  a  stupendous 
miracle  ?  And  why  has  such  a  vast  systematic 
organization  grown  up  as  in  a  day,  of  associations 
at  home  and  missions  abroad,  with  the  specific  and 
declared  design  of  publishing  the  gospel  to  everj 
creature  ?  Was  there  ever  such  a  thing  before  ? 
Why  has  the  great  and  blessed  God  crowded  so 
many  of  such  stupendous  results  into  our  day  ? 

I  am  unable  to  answer  these  inquiries,  except  on 
the  supposition  that  the  "  fullness  of  the  time  "  has 
actually  come  for  the  predicted  publication  and 
spread  of  the  gospel  through  the  world.  I  am  sure 
that  they  cannot  be  answered  on  any  other  supposi- 
tion' There  never  has  been  an  age  like  the  pres- 
ent. Never  did  churches,  or  individual  Christians, 
or  any  man  with  the  gospel  in  his  hands,  stand  in 
such  a  relation  to  the  heathen  world,  as  we  now  do. 
Not  only  is  that  world  accessible,  but  il  even  lies  on  our 
ver\  borders.  We  cannot  sympathize  with  Richard 
Baxter,  in  his  almost  despairing  hope  that  the  time 
Iflight  come  when  the  gospel  should  have  access  to 
the  Orient  :  for  with  us,  hope  has  given  place  to 
certainty,  and  every  man,  woman  and  child  may  now 


19 


operate,  with  the  greatest  ease,  upon  the  most  dis- 
tant nations.  Men  sometimes  complain  of  the  fre- 
quency and  urgency  of  the  calls  that  are  made  on 
their  religious  benevolence.  But  do  they  not  see, 
that  the  most  urgent  of  these  calls  result  necessarily 
from  the  character  which  God  has  impressed  on  our 
age,  and  from  the  relation  we  stand  in  to  the  sur- 
rounding world  ?  Our  fathers  of  the  last  centurj 
had  no  such  calls  upon  them,  as  we  have  from  nations 
beyond  the  hounds  of  Christendom ;  and  the y  had 
not,  because  those  nations  were  then  comparatively 
unknown,  or  unapproachable.  But  God  has  been 
pleased,  in  our  day,  to  lift  the  pall  of  death  from  off 
the  heathen  world,  and  to  bring  it  near,  and  to  fill 
our  eyes  with  the  sight  and  our  ears  with  the  cry  of 
their  distress.  He  has  leveled  the  mountains  and 
bridged  the  oceans,  which  separated  the  benighted 
nations  from  us,  and  has  made  for  us  highways  to 
every  land.  To  us  he  says,  "  Go/" — with  an  em- 
phasis and  a  meaning,  such  as  this  command  never 
had  to  ministers  and  Christians  in  former  ages. 

Should  we  take  the  wings  of  the  morning,  and  fly 
millions  of  leagues  beyond  our  globe,  we  could  by 
no  means  thus  escape  from  the  responsibility  that 
has  come  upon  us  ;  for  we  know  our  duty,  and  we 
can  never  be  as  though  Ave  had  not  known  it.  We 
should  be  held  and  treated,  whereve  r  found  by  min- 
istering angels,  as  deserters  from  the  army  of  the 
Lord  of  hosts.  God's  Word  and  Spirit  and  Provi- 
dence noyv  all  concur  in  the  command  to  publish  the 
gospel  to  all  the  nations;  and  if  yve  refuse,  the  blood 
of  perishing  nations  yvill  cry  against  us.  This  is 
the  age  for  the  yvork,  and  yve  are  the  people  to  do  it. 


20 


From  this  warfare  Christ  will  give  us  no  discharge. 
It  by  no  means  follows,  that  we  shall  be  saved  in 
the  neglect  of  this  work,  because  our  fathers  were. 
Our  circumstances  differ  wholly  from  theirs.  Wes- 
tern Asia,  India,  China,  were  shut  to  them,  but  are 
open  to  us.  Neither  had  God  been  pleased  to  teac  h 
them,  as  he  has  us,  to  associate  and  combine  their 
strength  and  act  in  masses  for  the  accomplishment 
of  great  religious  enterprises. 

Verily  it  is  no  transient  opinion,  nor  mere  popular 
sentiment,  accidentally  arisen  and  liable  to  pass 
away,  that  has  put  forth  and  sustains  the  missionary 
work.  It  is  the  onward,  almost  fearful  progress  of 
God's  gracious  providence.  As  long  as  there  is  liber- 
ty of  thought,  speech  and  action,  a  free  press,  an 
advancing  civilization,  and  an  unshackled,  univer- 
sal commerce,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  motives  to 
prosecute  the  missionary  work  will  continue  to 
increase  in  their  manifold  power  upon  the  hearts, 
consciences  and  conduct  of  the  Christian  church. 
No  one  can  doubt  this,  who  knows  the  circum- 
stances that  marked  the  rise,  progress  and  decline  of 
all  past  missions  of  the  church,  or  who  takes  a  com- 
prehensive view  of  this  '  fullness  of  the  time  '  for 
the  grand  spiritual  renovation  of  the  world.  These 
mighty  beginnings  of  the  past  half-century  will  have 
glorious  developments  in  the  half-century  to  come  ; 
and  the  children  will  have  far  more  to  do  and  will 
do  far  more,  than  their  fathers  did  or  supposed  they 
could  do. 

The  idea  that  the  ability  of  the  churches  to  give 
is  already  fully  tasked,  comes  from  a  profound  igno- 
rance of  the   statistics  of  our  religious  charities. 


21 


Nearly  one-half  of  the  three  millions  of  professedly 
evangelical  church-members  in  our  country  are  be- 
lieved yet  to  give  nothing  at  all  for  missions,  foreign 
or  domestic.  Nearly  a  third,  even  in  New  England, 
are  believed  to  give  nothing  ;  and  very  many,  even 
in  our  own  denomination,  contribute  not  more  than 
half  a  dollar  a  year  for  propagating  the  gospel  ; 
which  is  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  dollars  in  half  a 
century  !  Or,  if  twice  this  sum,  it  would  be  but 
fifty  dollars  during  a  long,  long  life  time  ! — and  for 
the  object  that  brought  the  Son  of  God  on  his  mis- 
sion from  Heaven  to  earth  !  Are  these  faithful 
stewards  ?  Will  they  hear  the  heaven-creating 
words  "  Well  done ! "  addressed  to  them  on  the 
great  day,  by  the  Judge  on  the  throne  ? 

I  am  not  pleading  specially  for  any  one  mission- 
ary society,  nor  for  any  one  class  of  missions,  nor 
for  the  millions  of  any  one  nation  or  continent.  I 
stand  on  higher,  broader  ground.  I  am  pleading  for 
the  general  cause  of  missions  and  of  the  gospel.  I 
am  pleading  for  the  world  ;  in  view  of  the  length, 
breadth,  depth,  and  height  of  the  love  of  Christ, 
and  of  our  obligations  to  him.  Is  this  a  work  we 
may  do,  or  not  do  ?  Is  it  to  be  reckoned  among 
mere  human  enterprises  ?  Can  we  neglect  it,  and 
think  calmly  of  our  neglect  in  our  dying  day  ? 

Let  us  get  the  full  impress  of  our  duty.  Let 
us  awake  to  its  great  reality.  Nothing  is  more  truly 
binding  upon  us,  than  the  obligation  to  impart  the 
gospel  to  those  whom  we  can  reach,  and  who  w  ill 
perish  if  they  do  not  receive  it.  That  surely  is  the 
most  destructive  immorality,  which  withholds  from 
immortal  man  the  only  gospel  of  salvation.  The  most 


22 


pernicious  infidelity  is  surely  that,  which  cares  not 
for  a  world  perishing  in  sin.  And  that  must  be  the 
most  high-handed  disregard  of  Heaven's  authority, 
and  must  reflect  most  dishonor  upon  the  Son  of 
God,  which  refuses,  in  the  face  of  his  most  explicit 
command,  to  publish  his  gospel  to  every  creature. 
Let  us  remember,  that  He  who  requires  this  is  our 
God,  in  whose  hands  are  our  possessions,  our  lives, 
and  our  immortal  souls,  and  that  our  opportunities 
are  rushing  by  us  and  fast  passing  away  forever  ! 


Note. — As  a  few  readers  may  perceive  a  resemblance,  in  some 
portions  of  the  foregoing1  discussion,  to  an  anonymous  article  in  the 
"  Religious  Magazine  "  some  twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago,  it  is  proper 
to  say  that  both  originated  from  the  same  source. 


i 


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